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THE LABRYS
A labrys is a double-sided axe that the Amazons were said to use as their main weapon. Lesbians have adopted the labrys as symbol of power and independ- ence. Some lesbians wear necklaces or earrings with a labrys symbol as a way to identify themselves to other lesbians.
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THE LAMBDA
One symbol which continues to remain popular is the lower case Greek letter lambda. The symbol was origi- nally chosen by the Gay Activists Alliance of New York in 1970. Because of its official adoption by the GAA, which sponsored public events for the gay community, the lambda soon became a quick way for the members of the gay community to identify each other. The reason- ing was that the lambda would easily be mistaken for a college fraternity symbol and ignored by the majority of the population.
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THE RAINBOW FLAG
The specific association of the Rainbow Flag with the LGBT community dates from 25 June 1978 and the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day parade. In 1977 a leading member of the city's LGBT community, Harvey Milk, became the first openly gay elected official in the US. A friend of his, Gilbert Baker, was asked by Milk to provide a logo for the 1978 parade.
After various transformations it finally ended up as a six col- our flag, where the colours each had a significance:
Red = life Orange = healing Yellow = sunlight Green = nature Blue = art Violet = spirituality
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The pink triangle overlapping a yellow triangle was used to tag Jewish homosexual men in Nazi concentration camps.
A chart, circa 1938 - 1942, of prisoner markings used in German concentration camps. The 5th column from the left was for homosexual men.
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THE PINK & BLACK TRIANGLES
One of the oldest of these symbols is the pink triangle, which originated from the Nazi concentration camp badges that gay men were required to wear on their clothing.
Lesbians, and other women such as prostitutes, were forced to wear the black triangle.
It is estimated that as many as 220,000 gays and lesbi- ans perished alongside the 6,000,000 Jews whom the Nazis exterminated in their death camps.
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THE INTERNATION BEAR BROTHERHOOD FLAG
The International Bear Brotherhood Flag was designed in 1995 by Craig Byrnes.
Bear is an affectionate gay slang term for those in the bear communities, a subculture in the gay community and an emerging subset of LGBT communities with events, codes and culture specific identity.
Bears tend to have hairy bodies and facial hair; some are heavy-set; some project an image of working-class masculin- ity in their grooming and appearance. The Bear community has spread all over the world, with Bear clubs in many coun- tries.
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The Transgender Pride flag was designed by Monica Helms, and was first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona, United States in 2000.
The flag represents the transgender community and con- sists of five horizontal stripes, two light blue, two pink, with a white stripe in the centre. The light blue is the tra- ditional colour for baby boys, pink is for girls, and the white in the middle is for those who are transitioning, those who feel they have a neutral gender or no gender, and those who are intersexed. The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it will always be correct.
Other symbols include the butterfly and the two male and female symbols separately and then combined.
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Some symbols are formed by the combination of the standard gender symbols.
Male Female
These are astronomical/mythological symbols. The male symbol represents Mars and the female sym- bol represents Venus.
When paired together, they represent gay men and lesbians.